The list of those thought to be held by the CIA includes suspected al-Qaeda members Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Abu Zubaydah. It has been said that you can judge a society by how it treats people accused of violating its laws. According to the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act of 1986, drug smugglers caught in international waters are considered to be committing a crime against the United States,even when there was no proof that the drugs, often carried on foreign boats, were bound for the United States. These Coast Guard ships are deployed deep into the Pacific sometimes thousands of miles from the nearest U.S. port, where they're detaining suspected smugglers and holding them aboard these Coast Guard cutters. On the day of registration transference, a Gulfstream V jet (number N8068V) used in the same activities, was transferred from Premier Executive Transport Services to a company called Baynard Foreign Marketing. [11] According to Danner, the report was marked "confidential" and was not previously made public before being made available to him. Since the 2012 launching of Operation Martillo, or hammer in Spanish, the Coast Guard has detained more than 2,700 people in international waters on suspicion of smuggling cocaine to Central America. [3] The report: denounces the lack of co-operation of many member states and of the Council of the European Union with the investigation; Regrets that European countries have been relinquishing control over their airspace and airports by turning a blind eye or admitting flights operated by the CIA which, on some occasions, were being used for illegal transportation of detainees; Calls for the closure of [the US military detention mission in] Guantanamo and for European countries immediately to seek the return of their citizens and residents who are being held illegally by the US authorities; Considers that all European countries should initiate independent investigations into all stopovers by civilian aircraft [hired by] the CIA; Urges that a ban or system of inspections be introduced for all CIA-operated aircraft known to have been involved in extraordinary rendition.[138][139]. He said that he had heard from three U.S. intelligence sources that Diego Garcia was used as "a transit site where people were temporarily housed, let us say, and interrogated from time to time" and that "What I heard was more along the lines of using it as a transit location when perhaps other places were full or other places were deemed too dangerous or insecure, or unavailable at the moment". He says a combination of U.S. agreements with Latin American countries and the U.S. Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act allows the US to take this action. Some of the inspector general's work on detention issues was conducted by Mary O. McCarthy, who was fired from the agency in 2006 after being accused of leaking classified information. The vagaries of international maritime law allow the Coast Guard to engage in what could fairly be described as a pattern of kidnapping and human rights abuses. Yes. Yikes! We understand that we made these decisions. It's not always clear that the drugs are coming here and, in fact, the circuit court in California has said that the U.S. can't prosecute these cases unless they can prove that the drugs were headed to the United States that they actually intended to to show up there. Copyright A. Michael Froomkin (some rights reserved), June 2, 2008 14 comments. Asked a question about waterboarding, Hayden mentioned attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, saying, "Judge Mukasey cannot nor can I answer your question in the abstract. He was picked up in September of 2014. Watch, crop and share YouTube videos safely without comments, ads, or other distractions. The question that they raise is "how are we in the United States right now?". This is according to the flight log of the aircraft obtained from Washington, D.C., by Village. In 2014, former Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski confirmed that he had made agreements with the United States to allow the CIA to operate black sites in Poland during his time in office between 1995 and 2005. But some of it may be going to other markets, to European markets, to Australian markets or elsewhere. [citation needed] EU Justice commissioner Franco Frattini has repeatedly asserted suspension of voting rights for any member state found to have hosted a CIA black site. What are the 5 types of prisons in the US? [126] She expressed satisfaction with the opening of the investigation, but emphasized that she had always said a parliamentary inquiry would also be necessary. You'll see the Doge's Palace's hidden torture chambers and even Casanova's jail cell. We will eventually reunite these ghost prisoners with their legal rights. Since then, there have been more and more people leaving. They're provided essentially buckets to use as toilets on some of the boats. The Coast Guard usually has a reputation for being the good guys out there rescuing people, apprehending bad guys. [13], In January 2012, Poland's Prosecutor General's office initiated investigative proceedings against Zbigniew Siemitkowski, the former Polish intelligence chief. Campaigners welcome closure of secret prisons network set up by Bush administration post-9/11 Skip . She was known to the male detainees as "Prisoner 650." I wrote to dozens of men and received letters back from many of these men who'd been detained on these Coast Guard ships, describing the conditions of their confinement. One of the CIAs guinea pigs was Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi national captured in Pakistan in 2002. For full details, see the section below on the media and investigative history. Over recent years, this amphibious assault ship has been converted into a floating secret prison, forming part of the CIA network of "black sites" used for so-called "enhanced interrogation . More Videos. The war on drugs has produced the vilest police state one can imagine. CIA detainees were subjected to coercive interrogation techniques that had not been approved by the Department of Justice or had not been authorized by CIA Headquarters. And for the next 70 days, he was held aboard a series of Coast Guard cutters and Navy frigates as he was moved around the Pacific Ocean. maid rite recipe with chicken broth. a most exceptional investigation of a core element in the deeply troubled story of Ireland Richard O'Brien, Ambassador of Ireland to Australia 1995 to 2002. We could no longer endure living in such conditions for that prolonged period of time, Arcentales wrote later in a letter. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) prepared a report based on interviews with black site detainees, conducted October 611 and December 414, 2006, after their transfer to Guantanamo Bay. It is estimated that the U.S. has also used 17 ships as floating prisons since 2001, bringing the total estimated number of prisons operated by the U.S. and/or its allies to house alleged terrorist suspects since 2001 to more than 100. Presenter Paula Harriott is Head of Prisoner Engagement for the Prison Reform Trust, having spent time behind bars. Next up in 5. 5. He really didn't know all that much about what he was doing. 1,3 mio. Hayden said the CIA has detained fewer than 100 people at secret facilities abroad since 2002, and even fewer prisoners have been secretly transferred to or from foreign governments. Boy oh boy. What we're seeing now is sort of carting people around carting suspected drug smugglers around the ocean an average of 18 days very often longer than that as the government waits to transport people to courts in Florida. This instruction was opened following a complaint deposed in December 2005 by the Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH) NGO ("Human Rights League") and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) NGO on charges of "arbitrary detention", "crime of torture" and "non-respect of the rights of war prisoners". It is. However, much of this cocaine was never even destined for America, yetArcentales and thousands of others are now rotting in Federal prisons after being senselessly tortured all of which is at your expense. More evidence supporting the airports role in CIA detentions arose in 2010 when Der Spiegel reported that the Swiss intelligence agencys Onyx satellite surveillance system had intercepted a fax between an Egyptian foreign minister and his ambassador in London. His investigation has found that no evidence exists establishing the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe, but added that it was "highly unlikely" that European governments were unaware of the American program of renditions. Negro fantasy. Senator Ron Wyden (DOregon) said he was sending a letter to Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, asking him to instruct Hayden to drop the inquiry. The fourteen European countries Marty listed as collaborators in "unlawful inter-state transfers" are Great Britain, Germany, the Isle of Man, Italy, Sweden, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Turkey, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Poland. Once detained, the Coast Guard employs the fiction that the suspects are not under arrest, sometimes chains them to the deck exposed to the elements, feeds them near starvation rations and provides them buckets for toilets. Reports state that he, too, was waterboarded, in addition to being threatened with sodomy. The accusation that several EU members may have allowed the United States to hold, imprison or torture detainees on their soil has been a subject of controversy in the European body, who announced in November 2005 that any country found to be complicit could lose their right to vote in the council.[105]. The report alleges that at least eight Thai senior officials knew of the secret site. Since then, the site has been used to train Lithuanias state security service. Ultimately, 26 Americans (mostly suspected CIA agents) and nine Italians were indicted. U.S. Coast Guard Holding Detainees In Secret Floating Prisons in Pacific Ocean - Legal News India, Legal News World, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of India, Delhi high court In May 2018, the BBC reported that the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base was the location of the black site used to interrogate Abu Zubaydah, a 31-year-old Saudi-born Palestinian, believed to be one of Osama Bin Laden's top lieutenants. On May 19, 2006, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (the U.N. body that monitors compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture) recommended that the United States cease holding detainees in secret prisons and stop the practice of rendering prisoners to countries where they are likely to be tortured. The Parliament also called for the creation of an independent investigation commission and the closure of Guantanamo. The CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the. As we've made this decision to prosecute more and more people, these delays have grown longer and longer. For the next 70 days, Mr. Arcentales and the other man he was detained with were held always chained by their ankle to the deck of a ship or to a cable running along one of these large Coast Guard or Navy ships for 70 days. [135], In its edition of January 8, 2006, the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick published a document intercepted on November 10 by the Swiss Onyx interception system (similar to the UKUSA's ECHELON system). Countries that held suspects on behalf of the U.S. include Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Libya, Lithuania, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zambia. The UK may also face liabilities over apparent violations of international treaties. The CIA's claims about the number of detainees held and subjected to its enhanced interrogation techniques were inaccurate. Floating Turtle If you travel towards the north from the west side of the Great Tree, you can find the Floating Turtle. In the historic city of Bucharest, the CIA tortured and interrogated high-risk terrorists for years in a basement prison, under the nose of roughly two million Romanians. Right now, a suspected terrorist is sitting in the bowels of a U.S. Navy warship somewhere between the Mediterranean Sea and Washington, D.C. Ahmed Abu Khattala, the alleged leader . In their report, they've also stated that a huge number of those people are held on ships that are known as "floating prisons". The Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center prison is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest operation prison ship in the world. Competitive Shopping. In an interview, Seth Freed Wessler, who wrote the November 20, 2017 Times article, noted the practice of holding suspects at sea for long periods of time has been condoned by the judicial system. During this period, there were several incidents of torture and prisoner abuse, though they were related to non-secret prisoners, and not the CIA-operated portion of the prison. It is only at that point that the detainees are formally arrested. He didn't tell anyone and disappeared. With this publicly announced act, the United States government de facto acknowledged the existence of secret prisons abroad in which these prisoners had been held. An important aspect of black site operation is that the legal status of black site detainees is not clearly defined. What I found in my reporting is that detainees, men who are moving cocaine in the Pacific Ocean. The Coast Guard makes the argument that these people are not formally under arrest until they get to the United States. No the bathrooms on these boats are very different, ship to ship. Diego Garcia is an atoll in the Indian Ocean located around 1,600 kilometers (1,000 mi) south of India and 3,200 kilometers (2,000 mi) east of Tanzania. [11], A European Union (EU) report adopted on February 14, 2007, by a majority of the European Parliament (382 MEPs voting in favor, 256 against and 74 abstaining) stated the CIA operated 1,245 flights and that it was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secret detention centers where prisoners have been tortured were operated in Poland and Romania. This was apparently due to a misunderstanding that arose concerning the similarity of the spelling of El-Masri's name with the spelling of suspected terrorist Khalid al-Masri. Seth Freed Wessler reported this story for The Times. The CIA marginalized and ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms, and objections concerning the operation and management of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. Ships that are understood to have held prisoners include the USS Bataan and USS Peleliu. Now, however, it seems to have gotten worse as an ad-hoc US detention system has recently been discovered floating in the Pacific Ocean in international waters as to exist outside the realm of the US justice system. Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites. We don't have facilities here. 99% of cocaine in us was cia in the eighties. We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored 24/7, but have you ever heard of a floating prison? They also said that they were threatened and told not to speak publicly about what had happened to them. The organization went on to claim that the United States was imprisoning as many as 26,000 foreign detainees in secret prison facilities, including land-based prisons. Before the mid-1980s, however, it was restricted to U.S. territorial waters. 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The men were required to clean out the buckets themselves. The alleged goal of the DST torturers was to extract confessions or information from detainees or to have them sign or thumbprint statements (the content of which the detainee may have no knowledge). [15] Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz characterized the accusation as "libel", while Romania similarly said there was no evidence. In today's insane new prison video we're going aboard the secret prison ships were prisoners are chained the the deck of a ship and forced to endure the harsh conditions at sea. They describe that as a really terrible disgusting process. [95] Several other articles reported the retention of ghost detainees by the CIA, alongside the other official "enemy combatants". [70] Slovak ministry spokesman Richard Fides said the country had no black sites, but its intelligence service spokesman Vladimir Simko said he would not disclose any information about possible Slovak black sites to the media. What a thin, fragile veneer our Bill of Rights, rule of law and self-adulation turns out to be once we suffer a blow and lose ourselves in fright and rage. The US government must show a commitment to rights and basic humanity by immediately revealing who these people are, where they are, and what has been done to them., (My emphasis can this really be true? According to Giovanni Fava (Socialist Party), who drafted the document, there was a "strong possibility" that the intelligence obtained under the extraordinary rendition illegal program had been passed on to EU governments who were aware of how it was obtained. Naval Base in Diego Garcia was reported to be a black site, but UK and U.S. officials initially attempted to suppress these reports. ZEROHEDGE: Facebook Announces It Will Use A.I. The Guardian article is based on a forthcoming report from an NGO called Reprieve. Reprieves research pointed to at least 17 US warships being used as secret CIA black sites. In 2008, The Guardian reported that human rights organization Reprieve, which claimed that the US has admitted to holding at least 26,000 people in secret prisons, had discovered that the US was operating a fleet of "floating prisons" that span the globe. [115], In an October 30, 2007, address to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Hayden defended the agency's interrogation methods, saying, "Our programs are as lawful as they are valuable." I really felt that officials thought people need to be moved off the boats more quickly and, again, are uncomfortable about the conditions that they have to hold people in. However, the Central Intelligence Agency was discovered using waterboarding in secret prisons following the 9/11 attacks, justified as "enhanced interrogation." . Your email address will not be published. [118], After a media and public outcry in Europe concerning headlines about "secret CIA prisons" in Poland and other US allies, the EU through its Committee on Legal Affairs investigated whether any of its members, especially Poland, the Czech Republic or Romania had any of these "secret CIA prisons". Stare Kiejkuty is a restricted military area in northeastern Poland that was used as a Nazi SS outpost during World War II. They're simply being held, while the Coast Guard deals with the logistical challenges of trying to get these men onto shore into an airplane and flown to Florida, where they'll be prosecuted. The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others. Bush said that the interrogation techniques "have been fully disclosed to appropriate members of Congress".[113]. As per the former detainees, survivors, and witnesses, Emirati forces operating in Yemen run illegal detention centers in the south of the country. [100][101], The reporting of the secret prisons was heavily criticized by members and former members of the Bush Administration. UK might have been a transit state but there is no proof about this either. 8. Who owns most of the prisons in America? By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly outsourced operations related to the program. Although no clear evidence have been found against the United Kingdom. The US Central Intelligence Agency has, according to multiple investigative reports from both mainstream media outlets and human rights organizations, operated numerous black sites across the world. 1.2M views, 5.3K likes, 172 loves, 682 comments, 1.8K shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Infographics Show: We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored 24/7, but have. [103][104] Such flight patterns might corroborate the claims of government officials that prisoners are grouped into different classes being deposited in different locations. . Sooo funny! I certainly hope you dont believe all of the idiotic crap shoveled by the US mainstream media. [124], On February 5, 2007, Portuguese general prosecutor Cndida Almeida, head of the Central Investigation and Penal Action Department (DCIAP), announced an investigation of "torture or inhuman and cruel treatment", prompted by allegations of "illegal activities and serious human rights violations" made by MEP Ana Gomes to the attorney general, Pinto Monteiro, on January 26, 2007. They helped us break up a cell of Southeast Asian terrorist operatives that had been groomed for attacks inside the United States. Your email address will not be published. [46] Also in Afghanistan, Jalalabad and Asadabad have been reported as suspected sites.[47]. Detainees are interrogated aboard the vessels and then rendered to other, often undisclosed, locations, it is claimed. We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored 24/7, but have you ever heard of a floating prison? Approximately 30 detainees are considered the most dangerous or important terrorism suspects and are held by the CIA at black sites under the most secretive arrangements. views, likes, loves, comments, shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Infographics Show: We all know prisoners are kept locked inside prison cells and monitored. [98], A story by reporter Dana Priest published in The Washington Post of November 2, 2005, reported: "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important alleged al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement. US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships.